When I was a kid back in the 60s and 70s everyone knew who the main railroads were…its easy in Canada…we only have two unless you lived on the west coast in which case you’d include BC Rail for a total of three.
In the US it was probably the same way…every kid in the west could name the UP or the Santa Fe, and every kid in the east could probably name the New York Central or the PRR…if not the Chessie or the Boston & Maine…
News reporters regularly make mistakes that inadvertently point out how strong some of the earlier names were… CP Rail for example…it has been Canadian Pacific for over a decade, yet reporters still routinely refer to it as CP Rail…a testament to the power of the brand… and how relatively weak other brands are by comparison.
Would be interesting to poll some kids today…would they rattle off BNSF, CSX if asked who the main rail carriers today are? Somehow I doubt it… and I don’t know if its that important. Knowing geography, the major river systems and the general lay of the land was once important too…
Canadian Pacific is CPRail…website is www.CPRail.ca. But it was Canadian Pacific for literally a hundred or so years until CPRail came along so many still refer to it as Canadian Pacific. And yes, some of the locomotives are getting the full name on their flanks.
(It’s still strange looking at USGS quads and GIS maps and seeing CCC&St. L along with other goodies like Peoria and Eastern etc with recent publication dates…)
In Chicago, railroads are “there”, like the electric company. The commuter trains are expected to run on time. A late or canceled train is news.
That said, perception and awareness of trains depends on how often you use them. Metra (Chicago commuter rail) is Greek to people who don’t ride trains.
Cool! I always look at www.cpr.ca. I guess Canadian Pacific kept www.CPRail.ca because they too realize the power of the brand. CP Rail was so named because it was only one unit in a larger congolmerate…i…e. CP Trucks, CP Ships, CP Rail, among others.
Railroads once spent considerably more effort to establish their public image, not so much anymore.
Plus I think that kids were more likely to identify with the nearest to home railroad entity. If you grew up near PRR tracks, you tended to identify with THATrailroad, etc.
In that spirit, kids growing up near an abandoned track might have a tendancy to see railroads as being obsolete
Kids that grew up near a Conrail main might envision Railroads as being government entities.
Kids who grew up near a CSX bridge might be prone to seeing railroads as rust belt relics…
As my age advances, I see my revelance to the Youth of today distancing itself from current generation’s. There is certainly a pronounced between what I deemed as reveleant, and what they deem as revelant to their world.
My questions would be, As ‘Seasoned Citizens’ are we becoming archelogical antiques?
Is this interest in Railroads (and Railroading) something that is going away with current generations; a victim of the battle to survive and live in today’s mobile society?
Is Rail transportation just a necessity of modern urban lifestyle, and not a curiosity; beyond a means to get to work and back home?
Do droves of kids ride down to an area close to the tracks to wait for and watch the trains go by, to count the cars and note the oddities they see?
Is the expense of Modeling ( and other forms of Railfanning) driving today’s youth away from the hjobby and interest?
First…type the address www.CPRail.ca and if you look closely, which I didn’t do earlier, you’ll see the address is actualy www.cpr.ca!
Next., public perception overall. I think it’s a generational thing. For many it was the railroad in the back yard. But Hollywood publicity agents found taking pictures of stars leaving and arriving on the Sante Fe Chief in LA or the 20th Century or Broadway Limited in New York City was good publicity for his clients while inadvertently giving the SanteFe, New York Central, and Pennsylvania railroads their shot at fame, too. Then Lionel came along with its use of UP, Sante Fe, and PRR in particular sets and a new round of recognition and perception followed. American Flyer did the same for New Haven (A.C. Gilbert’s home office was New Haven, CT.) with some Sante Fe thrown in. In time other lines were brought into the toy line.
But follow my ageing if you will: It was the DL&W railroad in my back yard when the family moved to Denville, NJ in 1946 till the merger with the Erie in 1959, then Erie Lackawanna. I left for college, fame and fortune in late '61 and within 15 years it was Conrail; soon it became New Jersey Transit and CR was replaced by Norfolk Southern. So you are looking at an almost 50 year time span with a change of ownership, recognition and rememerance differences of five different names, two, maybe two and a half generations. I remember it as the DL&W, still refer to it that way in fact if only in my mind. Others are steadfast EL fans never having known either the DL&W or the Erie as seperate and individual entities. Still others came along with Conrail and EL is just a railroad they know as being bankrupt enough to have to have been included in the government railroad. And today there are those who only know Norfolk Southern, Canadian Pacific, New Jersey Trans
These are all great points…thanks for your input everyone. I too identify more with the past… the CN and the CP in my case… because I grew up not far from their tracks…and back in the 70s if you lived out in the boonies there wasn’t a whole heck of alot to do in the summer other than exploring the countryside on foot, read books… and take pleasure in watching the passing trains. There was no internet and TV was limited to three channels…and school buddies lived miles away and in equal isolation.
Now both CN and CP are both gone from my hometown…but in their place (looking at it objectively and without sentiment) MM&A and Ge & W are alot more interesting. Motive power is diversified and those regionals have breathed life back into a rail network that in my youth was approaching decrepetance.
Sitting in our local Family Restaurant with the double main CSX {former Conrail}, line right beyond the parking space…one can observe what occurs when a train passes…
I’d say 95% or more of restaurant customers…do not even look up as a triple engine double stack train is blowing for the crossing and as it passes. {Higher % if I’m not there…}
Even adults waiting at a crossing for the train to pass seem to display {what a waste of time}, as they set and wonder why it’s taking so long for this obstruction to pass…Doubt if they are even aware of the fact, that train is carrying necessary {goods, products}, to keep commerce on it’s daily schedule.
I’d say most people do not appreciate the modern sophisticated piece of machinery {engines}, that are leading this extremely long line of rail cars…Something that is not even near their thoughts.
And younger folks that might be playing a video game, etc…and a train passes outside, wouldn’t even consider looking at it as something of any interest to them. No curiosity of it at all…!
Personally, all of the above has in my opinion…happened in part, simply because of the attitudes of “railroading’s actions” themselves over the decades. That’s the way the companies seem to want it…“We’re here operating in our environment and want no interference from any curious public”.
It seems to me we’ve just seen the reemergence of RR advertising in the past decade…and more so recently. Not sure why the change.
Of course, we railfans have wondered why they have been trying to “hide” all these
Re: Canadian Pacific, CPR, CP Rail, etc.: Back in the early 1980’s Trains published a poem - titled “Song of the Holy Name” and perhaps by N. W. Emmott, if I’m remembering at all correctly - that bemoaned the adoption of CP Rail, and ended with something like “Consign to outer darkness the dratted CP Rail”. There are enough CPR fans here - and it’s good enough - to make it worth my while to look it up over the next week or so and maybe post it here in its entirety.
In another thread about a year ago I suggested that railroads put a pro-rail message on the sides of their cars - kind of like a rolling billboard - to take advantage of the grade crossing exposure to the public opportunity. Although the AAR has Interchange Rule 84 that prohibits advertising on the sides of cars, I believe that is for shipper advertising, not railroad, as I understand it. However, there is a firm - based in Cleveland, as I recall - which has developed that as a niche market. I’ll see if I can find their name and a link again in the near future.
Finally, our young plumber has a bumper sticker on his truck as follows:
"A hundred years from now, they will gaze upon mywork and marvel at my skills but never know my name.
One of the problems with railroad recognition is that most trains today look pretty much alike. I live within sight of the ex-Frisco’s River Line, later BN. Most of what goes past these days are coal trains. They consist of a few of the ugly orange BNSF units, followed by 100+ coal cars which all look alike. Even the regular freights consist of black tankers, red oxide boxcars, flat cars and such. When I hear a whistle, I seldom bother to look out the window.
Advertising has been mentioned, and it used to be worthwhile to see different colored cars with, “Route of Phoebe Snow,” or “Serving the Heart of Mid-America.” These advertised only the carriers and it was interesting to imagine the travels of these eastern, western, Canadian and other cars and imagine how they got here.
But then again, I’m 74 and definitely living in the past.
“Freight cars, or rolling billboards? - Is it time to put ads on freight cars?” by Steve Glischinski in the NEWS & PHOTOS section of Trains, page 14, October 2007, Vol. 67, No. 10, which references Freight Car Media LLC of Cleveland, Ohio - see:
I think the younger generation only relates the rail companys to the colors of the engines. My kids definatly know the different companys but their friends would refer to UP as the yellow trains or the BNSF as the orange one’s. But that all changed one day when I gave them a 5 minute education on whats inside those stack trains. Once I mentioned all your X-boxes, I-Pods, computers, and Playstations were inside those intermodals, it sunk in within an instant. Once I had their attention, then it was 52 questions asked by the little one’s. Now when at a grade crossing with a car load of kids, they see how many different shipping companies they can name and they definatly know who the engines are owned by. Mission accomplished.